More debt shuffling....

[--cypher--]

Okay, I've been building up and chiseling away at my debt for a few years now but I'm kind of getting bogged down by some recent clean-up details so I'm gonna throw this up here to see if anyone has any input. In case the figures lose alignment, they read as AGE, CREDITOR, BALANCE/LIMIT, RATE.

0  KOHL'S                                 $0/500                 21.9%

3  WELLS FARGO VISA          $0/$3,600           21.0%

0  USBANK VISA                      $0/$2,000           0%12, 5.99%BT60, 11.9%

0  CITIBANK MC                       $0/$1,200           0%6, 0%BT6, 15.49%

2  GE FUNANCING                  $650/$12,500    21.99%

1  WAMU VISA                           $950/$1,750      17.99%

1  GE MONEY VISA                   $2,800/5,000    18.24%

Obviously I am carrying balances where I shouldn't be, and I'm not carrying any balance where I should. I've already thrown at least $5,000 in the past month at cleaning a lot of these lines up and I have another grand or so to work with.

Since I have the two with zero percent intros, I think I should just concern myself with getting the other cards unloaded and then just wing it from there. However, I'm afraid of jacking my individual utilization past 50-percent so that means I am only dealing with $1,600 of zero interest instead of the $3,200 I'm showing.

Should I just bury the two intro cards into the red and deal with it, or should I stay conservative and keep an obscene card loaded too?

Also, if it is possible, is there any benefit to combining the two GE cards AND  if there is, then is it reasonable to expect a lower rate than either of them offers?

Like I said, I've done some work to get this far but I'm not sure what my next move should be. All I know is that I am not expecting to make any more big pay downs this year.

I gotta do something because the meter is running and these zero intros won't last forever....

edited to say:

I should clarify the GE FUNANCING account as a powersport card, which is basically a motorcycle dealership house card. Not only is the interest a little steep, but the card requires a lot of maintenance to keep open. Buying things at dealerships is not always convenient and I've already lost one card with an $11,500 limit because I couldn't pacify HSBC with my trivial buy-ins. I'm okay if the GEF card goes away, but I'd like it even more if GE transferred some of the FUN limit to my Visa. Oh, and lowered the rate.

Am I dreaming?

WAIT! -- Is GE Money Bank not the same as GE Consumer Financing? I suck....

Message Edited by --cypher-- on 02-02-2009 09:19 PM

[cobaltnv]

Hi cypher,

   Others may have suggestions, but here is mine. First if you have $1000 to work with pay off the GE card in full ($650). Then I would call USbank and tell them that you are interested doing a BT to their card, but you are concerned with having a utilization >50%.  THey may be willing to up your credit limit. Even if they do not I would transfer as much of your GE Money card to the USBank as you can. Do not worry about the utilization. Of course during your conversation with USBank I would let them know you are going to almost max out your card. After the BT I would use the rest of the ~$1000 you have to pay down your wamu.

Good Luck--you are almost their!! 

---

@--cypher-- wrote:

Okay, I've been building up and chiseling away at my debt for a few years now but I'm kind of getting bogged down by some recent clean-up details so I'm gonna throw this up here to see if anyone has any input. In case the figures lose alignment, they read as AGE, CREDITOR, BALANCE/LIMIT, RATE.

0  KOHL'S                                 $0/500                 21.9%

3  WELLS FARGO VISA          $0/$3,600           21.0%

0  USBANK VISA                      $0/$2,000           0%12, 5.99%BT60, 11.9%

0  CITIBANK MC                       $0/$1,200           0%6, 0%BT6, 15.49%

2  GE FUNANCING                  $650/$12,500    21.99%

1  WAMU VISA                           $950/$1,750      17.99%

1  GE MONEY                            $2,800/5,000    18.24%

Obviously I am carrying balances where I shouldn't be, and I'm not carrying any balance where I should. I've already thrown at least $5,000 in the past month at cleaning a lot of these lines up and I have another grand or so to work with.

Since I have the two with zero percent intros, I think I should just concern myself with getting the other cards unloaded and then just wing it from there. However, I'm afraid of jacking my individual utilization past 50-percent so that means I am only dealing with $1,600 of zero interest instead of the $3,200 I'm showing.

Should I just bury the two intro cards into the red and deal with it, or should I stay conservative and keep an obscene card loaded too?

Also, if it is possible, is there any benefit to combining the two GE cards AND  if there is, then is it reasonable to expect a lower rate than either of them offers?

Like I said, I've done some work to get this far but I'm not sure what my next move should be. All I know is that I am not expecting to make any more big pay downs this year.

I gotta do something because the meter is running and these zeros won't last forever....

---

[Creditaddict]

I would not worry about utilization on 2 cards for the short term and save the money instead, if you max out your 0% cards, that will leave you just over $1k, which you have almost enough to pay that off with your cash you mentioned.

[marty56]

Normaly I would say pay of debts smallest to largest but these days I would pay down the $2800 bill since you dont want to be a victim of AA.

[--cypher--]

---

@marty56 wrote:
Normaly I would say pay of debts smallest to largest but these days I would pay down the $2800 bill since you dont want to be a victim of AA.

---

A few quick notes about the $2,800 balance card:

A couple of weeks back the card was at $3,800/$4,000 and had been as high as $3980/$4,000 over the summer. Anyway, I was logged in to the account to make a $750 payment, but I noticed I had a message offering a $1,000 CLI so I took it and paid down at the same time. I thought that was an odd offering in these times under my apparent circumstances....

Well tonight I was bored and decided to throw another $100 at it just to feel productive, but the **bleep** action links were close enough that I clicked on the "Request Limit Increase" instead. It was genuinely an honest mistake.

Of course I was instantly denied, and I received a message that said I would be mailed a reason for being declined in a few days.

So now I have this card that was maxed out, I just paid it down to below 60%, they just gave me an increase, I've made another unscheduled payment, oh...last week they sent me a renewal card but I never got it so I had to have that one cancelled a new one issued, then I go and cap all this nonsense off by ASKING FOR AN INCREASE. I don't even know if I should bother to ask if I should be expecting adversity from all this. Should I be asking if there is any chance this account will be allowed to stay open?

[Creditaddict]

I wouldn't worry about it. they just gave you cli, they like you!

[oracles]

Hi Cypher

First-  I would not worry about the accidental asking for cli. CA is correct, they like you since they already gave you a 1k increase. You were denied most likely because you just received a cli.

Second- I would ask Wells Fargo if there are any BT's offers. Just to see all your options. If they don't have any, fine you just want to make sure you know all options in trying to pay off this debt.

Third- Ask both US Bank and Citi if they can increase your limit because you are going to do a BT. Some CCC actually like to hear this and will increase your limit. Again you are doing this also to know all your options. Also it may help to tell them you want your debt to credit ratio below 50% and therefore would appreciate a cli. This may help.

Fourth- if everything stays the same and you do not get anything else from asking then my next plan would be to

a- pay off the 650 GE with the 1k

b- take 2k from ge money and put it to us bank

c- take 950 wamu and 250 left from ge money and put it to citi

d- take the 350 left from your 1k cash and pay it towards the remaining balance of the ge money.

That will leave you with $200+ balance on the ge money and pay that off with your next check.

Do not be concern with util% with the 2 cards. If you are not going to apply for anything major soon, I would not worry. Also sometimes it is more important to save than to have a high score.

please also remember there are BT fees associated with this so be mindful of this and don't go over the limit.

This is why I said $200+ remaining with the g e money because this is not exact. You will not be able to completely use all the money. You have to take into consideration the BT fee. Also some banks make you leave a small available limit on your card, so this may come into factor as well. I know chase makes you leave at lease $300 dollars of available limit when I did a BT with them before.

Hope this helps and keep us updated.

Make credit work for you not let credit dictate you

[--cypher--]

Okay, so here's an update just to show some progress and to let people know that their advice can be helpful to others when making decisions.

I still have the cash to play around with but I'm also following the discussion on holding cash or dumping debt in these times before I make any wicked movements there. Plus I racked up $50 in balance transfer fees. Oh, and I used a card to buy some needed tools off eBay for $200. Other than that, I'm under control. This is what I've done so far (I've eliminated the promo rates and resorted them to clean things up):

 

2  GE FUNANCING                    $0/$12,500         21.99%

0  KOHL'S                                   $0/$500                21.9%

3  WELLS FARGO VISA            $0/$3,600            21.0%

1  GE MONEY MC                      $1,550/$5,000    18.24%

1  WAMU VISA                            $0/$1,750            17.99%

0  USBANK VISA                       $1,850/$2,000     11.9%

0  CITIBANK MC                        $900/$1,200        15.49%

I decided to keep the balance on GEMB even though it is .25% higher than WAMU because I am not too optimistic about Chase liking me. I'm not sure if they are keeping score but I think I burned them once a very long time ago. Plus, I'd like to keep GEMB thinking they are a little useful to me since the just gave me an increase and they are older than the WAMU and it's an overall better deal for me. Even as much as I HATE the PayPal branding, it's worth the extra .25% even if I can't think of a good excuse....